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Ivan's picture

Story of the Apple/Command key sign

Ivan | Mon, 2004-08-23 07:02
Mac OS X

Have you ever wondered where that infinite double cross on your command key comes from?

As far as I heard, when Apple decided to have a special key on the Apple computer keyboard for menu shortcuts they originally used the Apple logo itself. But, when the prototype of the user interface was presented on screen to Steve Jobs, he didn't like the Apple being shown so many times next to the menu items. He asked the interface designers to find a different solution. They were looking for a symbol that had a relevant meaning, simple and not in use for anything else in computing. Finally they came across the Sevärdhet, which is an ancient Viking symbol, that is still in use in Scandinavia Today. Apparently it's a well known symbol and it is used on maps and road signs. It means point of interest.

Low End Mac has more details.

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Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) | Sat, 2005-04-09 21:51

See Folklore.org for the story from the horses mouth.

Ivan's picture
Ivan (not verified) | Sun, 2005-04-10 01:03

That's a good one! Tx!

Ivan's picture
Ivan (not verified) | Sat, 2005-04-09 22:45

I wonder if this character shows up on the web: "⌘"

Greg's picture
309 pencils
Greg | Sat, 2005-08-20 23:28

For those of us with Macs it does... dunno about my nast windoze PC... I'll check.

my blog: http://blog.one-waymedia.com
my work: http://www.one-waymedia.com

Greg's picture
309 pencils
Greg | Sat, 2005-08-20 23:31

it does show up on my windoze PC too.

my blog: http://blog.one-waymedia.com
my work: http://www.one-waymedia.com

Ivan's picture
Ivan | Sun, 2005-08-21 08:02

Yes, it does. How to type it up?

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) | Wed, 2009-04-08 23:51

Recpect. This is the best site a have ever seen. Best regards to administration. Megaricpect

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